1790-1909 Extract from 1906 Ordnance Survey Map. Second Edition. Surveyed in 1881. Revised 1904 From 1790 until 1909 Rookery Farm on the Watton Road to Rocklands, was owned by the Norton family. At the turn of the 18th century, the farm comprised two farms – one of some 50 acres and the other 114 acres….
Category: Attleborough to Rocklands Road
Henry Norton’s Messuages along the main road to Rocklands
Rookery Farm is a substantial property approached by a short drive from the Watton Road, near to the border with Rocklands. Indeed a very small portion of the land belonging to the farm once crossed the parish boundary into Rocklands. Perhaps this is still the case today. Extract from 1906 Ordnance Survey Map. Second Edition….
William J Norton brings his Great Grandfather’s Trust to an End
At the turn of the 19th century, Henry Norton was one of three significant landowners in Great Ellingham. Like the other notable proprietors, Norton did not live in the village. Henry Norton completes his Purchase from Turner On the 6th November, 1790, Henry Norton completed his purchase of two farms with a considerable amount of…
Warren’s Cottage with Yard & Garden occupied by Wretham & Halls
At the turn of the 19th Century, Jeffery Warren owned several dwellings in Great Ellingham. Save for the cottage he lived in, the remainder were let out to tenants. Although Warren died in the March of 1800, his properties continued to be let by his executors. One such property was the cottage, yard and garden…
Local Farriers, William Reynolds & Son
William Buchan Reynolds 1822-1886. Courtesy Ollie West Harrod’s Directory of 1878 lists William Reynolds & Son as farriers in Great Ellingham. Whilst a farrier is a skilled person with sound knowledge of shoeing all types of equine feet, William Reynolds was also a ‘cow leach’ (cow doctor) as well as veterinary surgeon. From Suffolk to…
1865 Auction Sale of Barnaby Barnard’s Properties in Bow Street
During the early to mid-nineteenth century, Wymondham born Barnaby Ezekiel Barnard (also known as Barnabas Ezekiel Barnard), a yeoman, of Rockland St Peter, owned several properties in Great Ellingham. In his last will and testament, he appointed the Reverend William Bird (also of Rockland St Peter), and Ellis Turner, a farmer of Caston, as his…
Thomas Margetson’s Cottage in Watton Road
We are fortunate that the Norfolk Record Office holds an abundance of documentation relating to Great Ellingham. This includes paperwork from the ‘Great Ellingham Inclosures’ c.1799 and a map dated 1802. According to the Great Ellingham Inclosure Statement of Claims, Thomas Beales claimed: – One Cottage and Garden occupied by Thomas Margetson – One Barn…
The Rivetts at Pond Farm
Extract from 1906 Ordnance Survey Map. Second Edition. Surveyed in 1881. Author’s Collection The black dot on the above extract from a 1906 Ordnance Survey Map, shows the home of Leonard and Gertrude Rivett at Pond Farm in Watton Road, Great Ellingham. Pond Farm still exists. Further, there has been a dwelling on the site…
Six of One and Half a Dozen of the Other
Guilty of Assault The Diss Express of Friday, 4th August, 1905, reported on proceedings at the East Harling Magistrates Court. This included the case concerning a fracas between two women in Great Ellingham. Widow Elvina M Rushbrooke of Great Ellingham was charged with assaulting her neighbour Maud Halls on the 23rd July. Halls was charged…
Ted & Alice Lincoln of The Cock Inn, Stanton
It can be difficult to ‘fill in the gaps’ between the birth or baptism of our ancestor, their marriage (if indeed one took place), and their ultimate death. All these ‘rights of passage’ are almost certainly recorded in the parish registers, which can date from as early as the sixteenth century. However in relatively recent…